Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has introduced the “Hire More Heroes Act,” with the goal providing an additional incentive for to hire military veterans. The bill would allow companies to exclude veterans from their count - employees for purposes the Act.
While the stated goal the bill is admirable, it could do more harm than good for American workers.
The requires companies with 50 or more - workers to . If the Hatch bill is enacted, a company that had, say, 52 employees, 3 which were veterans, would be allowed to count only the 49 non-veteran workers in their total. The net effect would be that they would not have to to any their employees.
“The Hire More Heroes Act is a no-brainer,” Hatch said about his bill. “This is exactly the kind common-sense job-creating policy the American people demanded.”
The bill was approved unanimously in the House, and is expected to come to the floor Senate soon. Because its laudable objective and patriotic title, members Congress may vote without closely examining the law’s possible consequences.
For American taxpayers, the Hire More Heroes Act would increase the deficit by $858 billion over the next 10 years, according to the .
In fact, it is not at all clear that veterans need the assistance that the bill intends to give them.
But it is certainly true that in many companies it would result in a number employees not being offered because a few veterans are the payroll.
Take our example above, where 3 veterans and 49 non-vets are working at a company. The veterans automatically are covered by Tricare or the VA, so their needs are met. But their 49 co-workers won’t be offered by their company if it takes advantage the Hire More Heroes Act.
No matter how much those co-workers may admire the veterans for their , some may feel resentment against fellow employees whose special status caused everyone else to miss out on a benefit they would have otherwise received.
Since the decision is the ’s, not the veteran’s, the vet cannot “opt out” being excluded from the count, even if he or she would prefer to receive company-sponsored .
Proponents the bill assume that veterans need special help to find . Is that accurate? Not according to former Marine artillery officerPeter Gudmundsson, CEO of RecruitMilitary.com, which connects with men and women transitioning from active duty to civilian life. Its services are free to those seeking employment.
Writing in the Washington Post, Gudmundsson says the bill is “based on a faulty premise,” because “Americans may be shocked to learn that there is no veterans’ unemployment crisis. The unemployment rate in 2014 for post-9/11 veterans was 7.2%, the lowest level in seven years tracking these veterans.”
The figure he quotes was reported in the Military Times a few months ago. For all veterans, the unemployment rate was 4.5%.
The employment rate for the relatively young vets who enlisted after the terrorist attacks September 11, 2001, was higher than the national average, but “compared with civilians in the same age ranges, post-9/11 veterans experienced lower rates unemployment.”
“U.S. leaders recognize that the military is perhaps the best institution in the nation for teaching highly sought qualities such as leadership, teamwork, mission orientation and integrity,” he wrote. “Companies that have invested in veteran employees thrive not because they are philanthropic but because they are making good decisions.”
Veterans deserve our respect and gratitude, and may need some coaching and retraining to move into the workforce. “But they do not need another form -code charity to excel in civilian careers,” he concludes.